GLOBAL WARMING: ISRAELI RESEARCH HAS WORLDWIDE IMPLICATIONS

One of the main parameters examined in this research is the amount of carbon dioxide the forest absorbs from the air, taking into account the fact that average annual rainfall has gradually decreased from 350 mm to only 300 mm whilst the quantity of compounds in the air is increasing. Professor Yakir's survey is the only one in recent years that checks the forest's overall functioning from the

KKL-JNF-COMBATS.
(photo credit:kkl)

The planting of Yatir Forest, now the largest
forest in Israel, started in 1966. It was created at the insistence of
Yosef Weitz, a principal visionary of KKL-JNF to use trees to roll back
the desert. His single-mindedness gained Weitz the affectionate title
"the father of forests". His vision has proved itself: the magnificent
Yatir Forest has completely changed the arid landscape of the northern
Negev despite opinions of many experts who declared then that the
project would totally fail. It transpires that the very existence of
Yatir Forest, on the edge of desert regions, is a prime ecological
instrument, having already halted desertification on the heights
north-east of Beersheba. Now, it is an undisputed fact: the forest has
significantly affected the quality of its environment.

Consequently, Yatir Forest has become the focus of recent research by Professor Dan Yakir of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
This research is part of worldwide studies on mechanisms that absorb
damaging hothouse gases, an international project carried out in
parallel in a hundred sites around the globe, with financing from the
European Union. Since 2000, Yatir Forest has actually been serving as a
living laboratory: it has a sophisticated monitoring station that
checks natural data - precipitation, moisture, growth, the trees'
natural development mechanisms, their emission of gases, the air's
composition, and other factors. The forest's "unnatural" desert
location makes this research even more important.

One of the main parameters examined in this research is the
amount of carbon dioxide the forest absorbs from the air, taking into
account the fact that average annual rainfall has gradually decreased
from 350 mm to only 300 mm whilst the quantity of compounds in the air
is increasing. Professor Yakir's survey is the only one in recent years
that checks the forest's overall functioning from the viewpoint of both
the ecology and its independent functioning.

Partial results of the research by Professor Yakir and his team
show that the forest's trees have adapted themselves to arid
environmental conditions by naturally smart use of the high level of
carbon dioxide in the air. Professor Yakir explains that because of the
rise in the level of carbon dioxide in the air, the trees absorb all
the carbon dioxide they require without needing to fully open all the
stomas (apertures) in their leaves' membranes. Partial opening of the
stomas reduces the evaporation of the water on the leaves and so a tree
uses less water without any damage to its development.

Professor Yakir says that this is the solution to
the mystery of the "disappearance" from the atmosphere of some seven
billion tons of carbon dioxide from industrial emissions worldwide. In
the course of the complex measurements carried out in Yakir Forest it
was discovered that, contrary to the accepted assumptions, the desert
forest of Yatir absorbs carbon dioxide just as efficiently as forests
in wet areas- and in fact it does it better. Yakir's premise is that
the rising percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere helps forests
expand to semi-arid and desert areas, because when the air has a
relatively high level of carbon dioxide, a plant is able to evaporate
less water while still absorbing the carbon dioxide that it needs for
the photosynthesis process.

The Yatir Forest has its own "biological clock" dictated by its
environmental conditions. While similar pine forests in Turkey are in a
state of full metabolic activity in the summer months, during that same
hot, dry period the Yatir Forest is in suspended animation, with its
trees at a very low level of physical activity. Only in winter-time
does the forest return to full metabolic functioning, and that is when
most of its growth, and most of its absorption of carbon gases, takes
place.

This
research and others at the Desert Research Institute of Ben-Gurion
University spearhead the Green focus that has become the target of
KKL-JNF activity in recent years, arousing much interest and curiosity
among international bodies, including the US Forest Service which is
closely monitoring their progress, plus various government ministries
in countries where KKL-JNF representatives have direct work and
research relationships.

Another parallel research study within Yatir Forest is the
investigation of annual and multi-annual growth, where controlled
grazing by flocks from local Bedouin villages is permitted within the
forest; an arrangement has been in existence in the last few years to
the mutual satisfaction of both KKL-JNF foresters and Bedouin owners of
flocks.The desert boundary is itself a subject of research aimed at
conserving land and water. KKL-JNF is partner in several researches on
trapping flood waters and surface runoff water by constructing low
embankments in planted areas, to catch whatever little water there is,
to prevent soil erosion and the silting up of river channels. Such
research has a strong impact on decision making about the development
of new farming areas, especially in the Negev.

KKL-JNF's research together with infrastructure on different
methods to combat global climate changes, have already gained
scientific recognition worldwide. "Yatir Forest would never have been
planted where it is, if a scientist had been the one to make the
decision to do so," Professor Dan Yakir often says about the green
expanse that is the topic of his important research. The results of
that research, though still only partial, already show that Yosef
Weitz's vision is reaching fruition, even bringing unanticipated
strength in the war on global warning. In scientific terms, Israel's
contribution to this international battle cannot be overrated:
KKL-JNF's work both enhances Israel and helps the international
community.